Simulation of Local Effects, Energy Absorption and Failure Mechanism in Multilayered and Sandwich Structures

The present dissertation describes the research work carried out towards: I. developing of analytical and numerical models for accurate and efficient analysis of laminates and sandwiches under different loading conditions (static analyses, impulsive loading and low velocity impacts); II. developing of techniques to improve structural performances of composites structures by tuning their energy absorption mechanism; A higher order theory (AD-ZZ) including zig-zag effects, transverse shear continuity, variable transverse displacement and layerwise representation is presented for analysis of laminates and sandwiches. This theory is cast in such a way that the unknowns in the model will involve only five variables like equivalent single layer models: the three displacement components and the two shear rotations of the normals on the reference surface. It is advantageous to formulate the theory in this way, as it provides the opportunity to refine its through-the-thickness representation by adding computational layers in the thickness direction without increasing the number of unknowns. After extensive evaluation of the accuracy obtained by the above mentioned theory for a variety of structures, the AD-ZZ model is enriched by adding a set of continuity functions in order to treat laminates and structures with in-plane discontinuities (e.g. bonded joints, two material wedge) under a unified approach without adding new unknowns. Speaking of techniques to improve structural performances, two approaches are presented: variable stiffness composites and stitching. The former tool works on the strain energy of the structure computing fibre distributions that minimize unwanted energy contributions and maximize the wanted ones. The latter prescribes the insertions of transverse reinforcements in sandwich structures. The homogenized mechanical properties of this structure, required by the AD-ZZ model to perform the analysis, are evaluated through virtual material tests using a 3D FE model. The results obtained applying these techniques demonstrate that both are effective in reducing transverse stresses at critical interfaces and, in certain cases, in improving bending stiffness. New C0 displacement-based and stress-based finite elements for analysis of laminated and sandwich plates based on the AD-ZZ model are developed. To achieve this goal, a new technique that converts derivatives of functional degrees of freedom contained in the AD-ZZ is presented. Both the elements satisfy all the requirements of computationally efficient finite element models for analysis of multilayered structures, namely 1) the number of degrees of freedom is independent from the number of layers; 2) no shear correction factors or penalty number are added in the formulation. Consistent shear fields are obtained for the present finite element formulations. Numerical results demonstrate that these new elements are robust, accurate and computationally efficient for analysis of multilayered structures. In order to study structures subjected to impact loading a new simulation procedure is developed. It is based on the AD-ZZ model and considers the crushing behaviour of soft-like media without performing each time a detailed 3D finite element analysis. Numerical results show that the response of composites undergoing low velocity impact is very accurately predicted with low computational effort. Overall, the present procedure holds great promise for analysis of laminated and sandwich structures undergoing low velocity impact.